At least 30 members of a wedding party are dead after being ambushed on a rural road in Borno State on north-eastern Nigeria, according to multiple media reports. The region is at the heart of an ongoing Islamist insurgency.

A wedding convoy was returning to state capital Maiduguri from
the neighboring district along the mountainous Bama-Banki
highway, which has become notorious for frequent attacks by Boko
Haram, an extremist Islamic group, when attackers opened fire.

Eyewitnesses told local media that the groom, identified by his
wedding robes, was among the dead, and bodies with gunshot and
knife wounds were scattered across the road.

Ahmad Sajoh , state spokesman for Adamawa, from where the
newlyweds were traveling, said the couple had participated in
fatiha - the Muslim wedding ritual.

The massacre follows a pattern of escalating violence in the
region in recent months, as the military steps up its efforts to
root out the loosely-structured Boko Haram. The anti-Western and
anti-Christian group, whose name is translated as ‘Western
education is sinful’ from Hausa, is known for attacking
government and civilian targets, including churches and schools,
but has also attacked Muslims in the past.

The winding Bama-Banki passageway, which connects Nigeria with
Cameroon, is a particular hotspot for disruptive activities, as
Boko Haram often barricade the road, hijack cars, and attack army
checkpoints along its route.

Last week Boko Haram fighters also made an assault on the city of
Damaturu, destroying four police buildings in a five-hour gun
battle, with official reports suggesting that more than 120
people died, including dozens of bystanders.

In turn, the government says it has taken out several Boko Haram
strongholds, claiming the deaths of more than 100 insurgents in
the past fortnight alone.

Nigeria, which has a population of over 170 million, is composed
almost equally of Muslims and Christians, though the former
dominate the north, and the latter the southern coastal areas.